Improving engagement in an early career academic setting: can existing models guide early career academic support strategies?

ABSTRACT

Early career academics (ECAs) represent the future of the academic workforce, but competition and career uncertainty is resulting in disengagement and burnout. In professions outside academia, increased engagement is associated with perceived organisational support and fair recognition and rewards, as well as opportunities to meet basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence and relatedness. In contrast, decreased engagement is linked with increasing demands on effort and over-commitment to work. The current study used multiple linear regression to test whether comparable relationships were observed in a sample of 151 ECAs in an Australian university. Opportunities to build and demonstrate competence at work, the presence of meaningful relationships and perceived organisational support were independent and statistically significant predictors of engagement. The need for autonomy and fair rewards and recognition appeared to be correlated but not statistically significant predictors of engagement. Contrary to prediction, increasing effort and over-commitment to work did not predict decreases in engagement. These results are discussed in light of implications for programs designed to support the development of ECAs into various career pathways.     

‘It didn’t really change my opinion’: exploring what works,what doesn’t and why in a school science,technology, engineering and mathematics careers intervention

Background: It is widely agreed that more needs to be done to improve participation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Despite considerable investment in interventions, it has been difficult to discern their effectiveness and/or impact on participation.

Purpose: This paper discusses findings from a six-week pilot STEM careers intervention that was designed and overseen by a teacher from one London girls’ school. We reflect on the challenges for those attempting such interventions and the problems associated with evaluating them.

Sample: Data were collected from Year 9 students (girls aged 13–14 years) at the school.

Design and methods: Pre- and post-intervention surveys of 68 students, classroom observations of intervention activities, three post-intervention discussion groups (five or six girls per group) and a post-intervention interview with the lead teacher were conducted.

Results: Although the intervention did not significantly change students’ aspirations or views of science, it did appear to have a positive effect on broadening students’ understanding of the range of jobs that science can lead to or be useful for.

Conclusions: Student aspirations may be extremely resistant to change and intervention, but students’ understanding of ‘where science can lead’ may be more amenable to intervention. Implications are discussed, including the need to promote the message that science is useful for careers in and beyond science, at degree and technical levels.     

Fathers’ and mothers’ home learning environments and children’s early academic outcomes

The home learning environment (HLE) that children experience early on is highly predictive of their later academic competencies; however, the bulk of this work is operationalized from mothers’ perspectives. This study investigates the HLE provided by both mothers and fathers to their preschoolers (n = 767), with consideration for how parents’ practices relate to one another as well as how these practices predict children’s early academic outcomes. Using an SEM framework, results indicate that while, overall, mothers provide HLE activities more frequently than fathers do, both mothers (β = .18, p < .05) and fathers (β = .22, p < .05) make unique contributions to their preschooler’s early academic skills, but only for families where mother has less than a bachelor’s degree. For families where mother has a bachelor’s degree or higher, the effect of father’s HLE practices is not a significant predictor of children’s academics when considering mother’s HLE. For all families, fathers are providing a variety of HLE activities to their young children; and, although these may occur less frequently than mothers’ practices, they are particularly important for the academic development of children whose mothers have less than a bachelor’s degree. Practical implications are discussed.     

Women and academic workloads: career slow lane or Cul-de-Sac?

Career progression for women academics to higher levels is not in proportion to their representation within the profession. This paper looks at theories about this and relates them to current practices within universities for allocating work. The management of workloads can disadvantage women through a number of interactive factors. Interruptions in continuity of employment and fractional contracts can work to exclude or hinder research activity, an area pivotal for higher progression. The issue that many models for allocating work exclude research from their calculations exacerbates this. Additionally this feeds off expectations that research work is conducted after hours at home, a feature that women may find more difficult. Lastly a lack of transparency can allow areas of, often unwitting, discrimination to go undetected through the skewed allocation of types of work not strongly associated with promotion. The paper suggests a series of measures that might improve this situation.     

‘They didn’t tell me anything’: women’s literacies and resistance in rural Mexico

Drawing from ethnographic case studies, this article considers issues of women’s access to education by exploring the literacy experiences of four women in rural Mexico. Ironically, as physical access to education in this area has increased, women’s literacy experiences have become more complex, rather than more libratory. Formal literacy, as it plays out for women in this community, is experienced as both an oppressive force as well as a tool for resistance to other forms of oppression. More importantly, the stories in this article highlight the socially dynamic nature of literacy as these four women utilise interpersonal relationships in order to subvert oppressive norms. These findings have implications both for theories of literacy as well as for educators who wish to work in more engaged ways with women and their children who emigrate from areas like rural Mexico.     

Understanding teachers’ motivation for and commitment to teaching: profiles of Chinese early career,early childhood teachers

ABSTRACT

To better understand the reasons underlying attrition and the teacher shortage, and to develop ways to attract and retain high-quality teachers in early childhood education, it is necessary to explore teacher motivation and commitment to teaching. Although previous research has investigated various aspects of teacher motivation and commitment to teaching, little attention has been paid to this in the context of early childhood teachers, especially early career teachers. Drawing upon in-depth interviews with 12 early career, early childhood teachers in mainland China, this study aims to examine early career early childhood teachers’ motivation to teach and commitment to teaching in the Chinese context. Four distinct types of early career, early childhood educators were identified: committed passionate, committed compromiser, undecided, and uncommitted. Each of these had unique motives for teaching and different levels of commitment to kindergarten teaching in mainland China. The four types of early career early childhood teachers identified in this study demonstrate the diversity and complexity of teaching motivation and commitment to teaching in the field of early childhood education. The findings from this study can provide implications for policy-makers and teacher educators to enhance novice teachers’ motivation and commitment to teaching in the early childhood context.     

Redefining ‘early career’ in academia: a collective narrative approach

‘Early career’ in academia is typically defined in terms of research capability in the five years following PhD completion, with career progression from post-doctoral appointment to tenure, promotion and beyond. This ideal path assumes steady employment and continuous research development. With academic work increasingly casualised, experiences of ‘early career’ are changing and definitions in use by institutions and research bodies do not reflect the lived experiences of early career academics (ECAs). This paper presents five collective narratives and a thematic analysis of survey data from 522 ECAs in three Australian universities. The results offer insights into the diverse experiences of the early stages of academic careers and provide an opportunity to reconsider current definitions. We argue that the employment context in higher education makes it crucial to consider scholars’ self-definitions alongside existing objective indicators to redefine early career in academia.     

The construction of early career teachers’ identities: coping or managing?

This paper examines how early career teachers cope with or manage the challenges that they experience during the transition from pre-service to the first and then the second year of teaching as they seek to establish stable, positive, professional identities and teach effectively in various school and policy contexts. Findings from three waves of interviews conducted with six elementary and secondary school teachers showed that, for these teachers in the early years of teaching, the construction of positive or negative, stable or unstable professional identities was closely related to whether they coped with or managed various tensions and to their perceived effectiveness. The findings also revealed that their ability to cope or manage was not only influenced by the relative strength of commitment with which they entered teaching, but also by the kinds of school-level support which they experienced.     

Tomorrow’s a mystery: constructions of the future and ‘un/becoming’ amongst ‘early’ and ‘late’ career academics

Abstract

Constructing a secure sense of a professional future has become increasingly difficult for early career researchers, whilst concerns about present and future job in/security have also been expressed in relation to already-established academics. In this paper, we draw on qualitative data from a U.K. study to explore everyday conceptualisations of the future for both ‘early career’ and ‘late career’ academics, in the context of increased fears and actualities of occupational precarity. We utilise theories of the social construction of time, as well as a conception of precarity and ‘precarization’ utilised by Butler (2009a, 2009b) and Lorey (2015), relating to ‘politically induced’ forms of insecurity that are a direct product of neoliberalism. The research reveals a variety of forms and levels of concern and anxiety by both groups for their own futures, and for the future of the academy as a whole.     

Knowing what we don’t know: cognitive correlates of early spelling of different target types

Reading and Writing - Although research on cognitive correlates of spelling has been conducted, these studies generally do not distinguish between different types of targets that need to be...     

Relationships of surveillance,assurance and recognition: early career primary teachers’ engagement with discourses of accountability and performance

Anecdotal evidence suggests that Irish primary teachers, and particularly those working in disadvantaged schools, are coming under increasing pressure to orient their practices towards satisfying the exigencies of accountability and performativity (Conway, P. F., and R. Murphy. 2013. “A Rising Tide Meets a Perfect Storm: New Accountabilities in Teaching and Teacher Education in Ireland.” Irish Educational Studies 32 (1): 11–36. doi:10.1080/03323315.2013.773227). Focusing specifically on early career teachers (ECTs) in Irish designated disadvantaged primary schools, this paper investigates ECTs’ engagement with discourses of accountability and performance and its influence on their daily practices. Semi-structured, life-history interviews were conducted with 18 participants drawn from three urban designated disadvantaged schools. Local conditions (level of disadvantage, the intensity and concentration of students’ needs, and school culture), as well as participants’ career stage, impacted upon the way ECTs engaged with, and/or mediated the influence of the strong, neoliberal performativity discourse. Participants’ engagement with the literacy and numeracy standardised testing process was characterised by relationships of surveillance which were held in tension with contradictory and conflicting relationships of assurance and recognition that the DEIS literacy and numeracy programmes and positive standardised test scores fostered. The findings indicate that the nature of these relationships, coupled with the demanding social context in which they begin their careers, is orienting ECTs towards the use of more structured and control oriented pedagogies.     

‘You're not able to breathe’: conceptualizing the intersectionality of early career,gender and crisis

Drawing on data from nine focus groups in four countries, I argue for the need to develop a research agenda around the intersectionality of early career, gender and crisis. I first give a brief explanation of the background, methodology and limitations of the study. Second, I lay out some key conceptualizations and their own limitations and then trace some important theoretical intersections that will frame the discussion. Third, to bring this intersectionality to life, I employ participant examples from the focus groups. In the first section of the analysis of the participant responses, I examine how crisis affects the identities of early-career academics. In the second section of the analysis, I connect these questions of identities with early-career academics' relationship with higher education (HE) pedagogies, most likely well known by the reader as a marginalized aspect of academics' work in HE institutions. Finally, I conclude with some responses to these dilemmas.     

Exploring early adolescents’ evaluation of academic and commercial online resources related to health

This study assessed the ability of 426 students (ages 12–13) to critically evaluate two types of online locations on health issues: an academic resource and a commercial resource. The results indicated limited evaluation abilities, especially for the commercial resource, and only a small, partial association with prior stance and offline reading ability. Only about half (51.4%) of the students questioned the credibility of the commercial online resource and only about 19% of the students showed an ability to fully recognize commercial bias. Wide variation existed in students’ ability to evaluate online information, as approximately one-fourth of the students performed poorly when evaluating the overall credibility of both online resources and one-fourth performed well. Logistic regression models showed that offline reading skills accounted for only 8.8% of the variance for the academic online resource and 15.1% of that for the commercial resource. No association appeared between evaluation and background knowledge, although an association with prior stance was observed for each online resource. The results are discussed in light of previous research and the need to pay greater attention to the critical evaluation of online resources during classroom instruction.     

Psychological determinants of university students’ academic performance: An empirical study

This study utilises an integrated conceptual model of academic performance which captures a series of psychological factors: cognitive style; self-theories such as self-esteem and self-efficacy; achievement goals such as mastery, performance, performance avoidance and work avoidance; study-processing strategies such as deep and surface learning; and effort. We investigate a group of first-year university undergraduates taking a course in business statistics at a British university. The results show a significant causal path of the form: self-esteem→ self-efficacy→ mastery→ effort→ performance. We conclude that the strengthening of any of the elements in this path would have beneficial effects on students’ academic performance and discuss various approaches to pedagogy, primarily assessment and feedback, to achieve this goal.     

‘If you’re wrong for the place you just don’t survive’: examining the work of early career teachers in context

ABSTRACT

This article presents evidence from across the segregated secondary school system in NSW, Australia, through the close analysis of three cases of teachers’ work in contrasting schooling contexts. Through this comparative approach, the relationship between school context and the work of the early career teacher is foregrounded, troubling views of teaching as reflecting a certain kind of life cycle in which early career teachers in particular are seen to be subject to pressures such as stress and burnout. In contrast, I argue that specificities of context, exacerbated by a market-based policy approach which has driven greater levels of differentiation between schools, have particular consequences for teachers, both in the nature and scale of the challenges with which they are faced. In demonstrating how teachers’ work is affected by context, I also speak back against recent, often ill-defined discourses of ‘classroom readiness’ and ‘teacher quality’, which emphasise the roles of teachers and teacher educators rather the systems within which they work.     

‘I didn’t stand a chance’: how parents experience the exclusions appeal tribunal

In September 2012, the process changed in England for how parents (and carers) can appeal against their child’s exclusion from school. This paper is one of the first accounts of how parents experience the new system. Using data from a research study with a range of stakeholders in the appeals process, this paper focuses on the accounts of the 21 parents interviewed. Thematic analysis was utilised to identify the factors that motivate parents to make an appeal, the barriers and enablers to doing so, and the physical, emotional, and financial costs that result from engagement with the process. The findings reveal that the costs are extremely heavy for parents with very limited rewards. The process is experienced as inequitable with a bias towards schools and many of these parents call for the provision of experienced legal support to make it a more balanced system. In spite of the challenges involved the need to call schools to account remains a strong motivation to appeal but this was not the preferred option for parents. Instead they call for schools to develop more inclusive and enabling environments that rely more on understanding the needs of pupils and their families than on exclusion from school.     

needn’t have done与didn‘t need to do有何区别

needn’t have done与didn’tn eed to do在结构上很相似，但用法有很大区别：     

“I’m not a real academic”: a career from industry to academe

Over the past thirty years universities have increasingly extended their offerings of vocationally oriented degrees and have recruited into academe, practitioners from the professions. This paper reports on a qualitative study that investigated the experiences of 20 professionals-turned-academics in Australia; their expectations of academe and how they defined, resisted and took up the multiple and changing roles associated with academic work. Findings indicate that the majority experienced nostalgia for universities of the past which they imagined to be places of intellectual elitism and curiosity-driven research and scholarship. At the same time, they identified strongly as practitioners within their professional fields, were committed to field-oriented practical education and resisted taking up researcher identities, understanding ‘real’ research in narrowly defined terms. Our discussion of these findings highlights the tension between what is desired and what is real in academe and its impact on job performance and satisfaction for this group of academics.